HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It's been over a year since COVID-19 reached Alabama and shut down countless businesses, but for some small businesses, it was a different story.
During the pandemic, people took to online shopping like never before. That was a good thing for Fitness Fox Headbands as more and more people discovered their shop online.
Fitness Fox owner Alix Defatta said, "Ours was actually a positive change. We had a lot of growth during the pandemic probably because a lot of people were at home shopping online."
How did Fitness Fox Headbands start?
Defatta began making and selling non-slip headbands on Etsy in 2014. The business is now grown to a team of three.
It wasn't until last year when they made and donated hundreds of face masks to local frontline health care workers that things took a turn. Once they started selling face masks to the public is when business really began to boom.
"We switched kind of from headbands to selling masks and that really helped us a lot to grow and create more of a client base," said Defatta.
With a good online foundation, the local headband shop was set. Their sales doubled from 2019 to 2020. Now, they ship out about 20,000 headbands a year.
Fitness Fox's success during the pandemic didn't come without hard work.
How did Fitness Fox grow during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Defatta says after she had a baby, she was back to work less than a week later. That kind of dedication allowed her business to extend its reach much further than Madison County.
"We have a bunch of returning customers in Canada, and there's one in Ireland that always buys from us," said Defatta.
Defatta says she's thankful her small business can bring a uniqueness to Huntsville and to share that around the world.
You can keep up with Fitness Fox on their Instagram.
WATCH: Behind the scenes look at how Fitness Fox headbands are made